Woman ends her life in Aussie ‘suicide pod’

An American woman, 64, has become the first person to use the controversial Sarco suicide pod to end her life. Police swarmed the scene and have made a number of arrests.

An American woman has become the first person to use the controversial Sarco suicide pod – dubbed the “Tesla of euthanasia” - to end her life in Switzerland.

The 64-year-old woman reportedly died “almost immediately” in the device “under a canopy of trees” near a forest hut in Merishausen, northern Switzerland, on Monday.

Swiss police announced Tuesday that several people were taken into custody and are now facing criminal charges, suspected of “inducement and aiding and abetting suicide.”

The capsule has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland, where active euthanasia is banned but assisted dying has been legal for decades.

The futuristic Sarco capsule, first unveiled in 2019, is a portable, human-sized pod which replaces the oxygen inside it with nitrogen, causing death by suffocation.

It is self-operated by a button on the inside, providing death without medical supervision.

An American woman, 64, has become the first person to use the controversial Sarco suicide pod (above, stock image) to end her life in a Swiss forest.

Woman died “almost immediately” after pressing button

The Sarco machine (short for sarcophagus) was invented by Australian Dr Philip Nitschke, who has been nicknamed “Dr Death”.

“It looked exactly as we expected it to look. My guess is that she lost consciousness within two minutes and that she died after five minutes,” Dr Nitschke told Dutch media.

“We saw sudden, small contractions and movements of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then.”

Dr Nitschke claimed the woman “almost immediately” pressed the button.

“She didn’t say anything. She really wanted to die,” he added.

The former physician, who lives in Amsterdam, campaigned for euthanasia to be made legal in the Northern Territory but it was overturned by the Australian government.

“It seems we demand humans to live with indignity, pain and anguish whereas we are kinder to our pets when their suffering becomes too much,” he said in 2009.

“It simply is not logical or mature. Trouble is, we have had too many centuries of religious claptrap.”

The Last Resort organisation, an assisted dying group, presented the Sarco pod in Zurich in July, saying they expected it to be used for the first time within months and saw no legal obstacle to its use in Switzerland.

In a statement to AFP, The Last Resort said that the person who died was a 64-year-old woman from midwestern United States.

The woman, who was not named, “died using the Sarco device” at approximately 4.01pm on Monday local time.

The controversial pod was invented by Australian euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke - dubbed “Dr Death”. Picture: Jasper Juinen / AFP

“The public prosecutor’s office of the canton of Schaffhausen has opened criminal proceedings against several people for inducement and aiding and abetting suicide,” the canton’s police force said in a statement.

The public prosecutor’s office was informed by a law firm at 4.40pm on Monday that an assisted suicide had taken place, the statement said.

The police, the forensic emergency service and the public prosecutor’s office “went to the crime scene”.

The Sarco suicide capsule was secured and the deceased taken away for an autopsy.

“Several people in the Merishausen area were taken into police custody,” the statement said.

The 3D-printable capsule cost more than 650,000 euros (AUD$1 million) to research and develop in the Netherlands over 12 years.

The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant said one of its photographers had been arrested by the Schaffhausen police on Monday.

Woman’s four-minute recording

Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant said the American woman made a four-minute oral statement to The Last Resort claiming she was ready to die.

In the recording, she revealed she was “immune compromised” and had been in “severe pain” for “at least two years”.

She claimed her two sons, who are not understood to have been in Switzerland to witness the death, were “behind me 100 per cent”.

Dr Nitschke condemned Swiss police in the aftermath of her death.

“An idyllic peaceful death in a Swiss forest where The Last Resort used the Sarco device to help a US woman have the death she wanted,” he wrote on X.

“What Swiss police didn’t mention was that those arrested included the Director of The Last Resort, two lawyers providing legal assistance to TLR, and a Dutch journalist!!”

The futuristic Sarco capsule replaces the oxygen inside it with nitrogen, causing death by suffocation. Picture: Arnd Wiegmann / AFP

Sarco death sparks instant fury

The use of the Sarco pod use came as Switzerland’s interior minister said it was not compliant with Swiss law.

“The Sarco suicide capsule is not legally compliant in two respects,” Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said during a parliamentary question and answer session on Monday.

“Firstly, it does not meet the requirements of product safety law and therefore cannot be placed on the market. Secondly, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the purpose article of the Chemicals Act,” she said.

Many pro-life groups have warned the pods, made by a 3D printer, “glamourise suicide”.

James Mildren, Director of engagement pro-life group CARE, said: “Philip Nitschke’s device has been condemned by a broad range of commentators.

“Many people feel that it trivialises, and even glamourises suicide.

“We believe that suicide is a tragedy that good societies seek to prevent in every circumstance.

“There are ethical ways to help human beings that don’t involve the destruction of life.”

‘Dr Death’s’ ominous warning

Dr Nitschke, the pod’s inventor, offered a chilling warning during a press conference unveiling the pod earlier this year: “Once the button is pressed, there is no way back.”

German scientist Florian Willet, 47, who helped create the pod added he would “probably use the Sarco myself instead of living through my last days in a miserable state while seriously ill”.

Dr Nitschke previously shared that the pod could be transported anywhere in the world.

“It can be in an idyllic outdoor setting or on the premises of an assisted-suicide organization, for example,” he said.

During an interview with MailOnline last year, he explained the logistics of the device.

“The person will climb into the machine, they will be asked three questions and they will answer verbally - ‘Who are you?’, ‘Where are you?’ and ‘Do you know what happens if you press the button?,” he told the publication.

“And if they answer those questions verbally, the software then switches the power on so that the button can then be pressed.

“And if they press the button they will die very quickly.

“When you climb into Sarco the oxygen level is 21 per cent but after you press the button it takes 30 seconds for the oxygen to drop to less than one percent.”

A 2022 review by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that if the device experienced a malfunction, the technology would fail to put the individual in an unconscious state, leading to a painful death.

- With AFP